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Advanced Fluid Mechanics in Hydraulic Engineering: Turbulence, Multiphase Flows, and Sediment Dynamics

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydraulics and Hydrodynamics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 July 2026 | Viewed by 1516

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, Università della Calabria, Ponte P. Bucci, Cubo 42B, 87036 Rende, CS, Italy
Interests: environmental fluid mechanics; sediment transport; local scour; turbulent jets; fluid-structure interaction; eco-hydraulics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, Università della Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata, Rende CS, Italy
Interests: environmental fluid mechanics; sediment transport; local scour; turbulent jets; fluid-structure interaction; eco-hydraulics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Understanding the intricate interplay between turbulent flows, mobile boundaries, and submerged structures is fundamental to advancing the field of hydraulic engineering. This Special Issue focuses on the fine-scale hydrodynamics governing erosion, transport, and deposition processes in both fluvial and maritime settings.

We seek contributions that leverage high-fidelity numerical methods (e.g., LES, DNS, multiphase RANS) and cutting-edge experimental techniques (e.g., PIV, acoustic Doppler profiling) to investigate complex flow fields and their interaction with the environment.

Key topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Turbulence–sediment interaction: the mechanics of particle entrainment, suspension, and bedload transport in shear flows;
  • Local scour mechanisms: vortex systems and scouring processes around complex geometries, bridge piers, and offshore hydraulic structures.
  • Jet hydrodynamics: turbulent properties of submerged jets, including ship propeller wash and their erosive potential on granular beds;
  • Canopy flows: hydrodynamic adjustments, drag forces, and turbulent structures within and above submerged vegetation;
  • Fluid–structure interaction: coupled dynamics of flow and rigid or flexible structures in hydraulic environments.

This Special Issue aspires to gather breakthrough studies that refine our theoretical understanding and modeling capabilities of environmental flows, fostering new criteria for advanced hydraulic design.

Prof. Dr. Roberto Gaudio
Dr. Nadia Penna
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • environmental fluid mechanics
  • sediment transport
  • local scour
  • computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
  • turbulent jets
  • fluid-structure interaction
  • eco-hydraulics
  • multiphase flows

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 5551 KB  
Article
The Effects of Tip Clearance on the Internal Flow Characteristics of a Mixed-Flow Pump Under Near-Stall Conditions
by Mingming Long, Wei Li, Haoming Li and Ramesh K. Agarwal
Water 2026, 18(9), 1027; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18091027 - 26 Apr 2026
Viewed by 653
Abstract
Leakage flow interferes with the main flow movement and has a close relationship with the rotational stall phenomenon. To study the rotational stall characteristics of mixed-flow pumps under different tip clearances (rim clearances), numerical simulations of the internal flow field of the mixed-flow [...] Read more.
Leakage flow interferes with the main flow movement and has a close relationship with the rotational stall phenomenon. To study the rotational stall characteristics of mixed-flow pumps under different tip clearances (rim clearances), numerical simulations of the internal flow field of the mixed-flow pump were carried out based on the SST k-ω turbulence model and hexahedral structured meshes, with the tip clearances set to 0.2 mm, 0.5 mm, and 0.8 mm respectively. The external characteristics, internal flow field under stall conditions, impeller surface pressure, and internal vorticity distribution of the mixed-flow pump were compared among the three different tip clearances. The research results show that when the tip clearance is 0.5 mm, the numerical simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results, indicating the high reliability of the simulation. Under the three different tip clearances, the near-stall and deep-stall operating points on the external characteristic curves are consistent. When the tip clearance is 0.8 mm, the positive slope characteristic of the flow rate–head curve of the mixed-flow pump is the most obvious. From the small flow rate condition to the large flow rate condition, the influence of the tip clearance on the efficiency of the mixed-flow pump gradually increases. Under deep-stall conditions, with increasing tip clearance, the stall vortex at the flow passage outlet causes more intense disturbances to the inlet of the downstream flow passage and induces the formation of new stall vortices at the downstream passage inlet, thereby increasing internal flow losses. The increase in the tip clearance leads to changes in the morphology of the leakage vortex, a decrease in the impeller surface pressure, intensification of flow disorder, and enhancement of the leakage vortex intensity. Moreover, compared with the rated condition, the leakage vortex of the mixed-flow pump under stall conditions is more affected by the tip clearance. Full article
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17 pages, 7327 KB  
Article
Hydraulic Characteristics Analysis of Free-Surface-Pressurized Flow in Long Tailrace Systems Under Variable Load Conditions
by Yuguo Zhou, Xin He, Daqing Zhou, Xiaoliang Li, An Yu and Ling Zhou
Water 2026, 18(4), 449; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18040449 - 9 Feb 2026
Viewed by 578
Abstract
Complex hydraulic transients induced during load adjustment of turbine units in long tailrace tunnels pose significant threats to the safety and stability of tailwater systems. In view of this, based on VOF multiphase flow and compressible water–air models, a three-dimensional full-flow-channel numerical model [...] Read more.
Complex hydraulic transients induced during load adjustment of turbine units in long tailrace tunnels pose significant threats to the safety and stability of tailwater systems. In view of this, based on VOF multiphase flow and compressible water–air models, a three-dimensional full-flow-channel numerical model of long tailrace system incorporating surge shaft and downstream river channel was developed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software to explore the transient impact of load changes on flow rate, water level, and pressure pulsations under different flow regimes in the tailrace tunnel, including open channel flow, pressurized flow, and free-surface-pressurized flow. The results indicate that the discharge at the outlet of the tailrace tunnel exhibits attenuated oscillations in response to load variations, with the most severe fluctuations occurring due to the intense air–water interface mixing during free-surface-pressurized flow. Flow regime transitions are accompanied by air pocket phenomena, resulting in significant fluctuations in air volume fraction. Pressure pulsations show periodic variations, with energy gradually dissipating as they propagate downstream. Open channel flows predominantly feature high-frequency waves, while pressurized flows exhibit intense low-frequency pulsations. Additionally, load changes in one unit have an ultra-low-frequency impact on another unit sharing the same tailrace tunnel, with high-frequency waves being filtered out by the surge shaft. Full article
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